


Murderer

by Whumblr



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Beating, Captivity, Execution, Gaslighting, Hurt/Comfort, Mind Games, Minor Character Death, Psychological Torture, Self-Hatred, Torture, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25339966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whumblr/pseuds/Whumblr
Summary: It's been weeks now since Keira was captured by Aiden. She stayed strong and endured whatever beating and punishment he threw at her, but one day Aiden tries something a little different and presents her with a gun and a stranger, bound and gagged.
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

A lone figure sat in the middle of the room, cross-legged, with his head down and his hands tied behind his back. His shoulders hitched visibly when the sound of the door closing echoed through the room and his hands were trembling in his handcuffs.

Keira flinched herself when she felt Aiden’s hand close on her shoulder. They stood a couple of meters behind the man, his back to them.

“Who…?” she started but he didn’t let her finish her question.

“As you seem to have trouble obeying me I figured it was time for some drastic measures,” he said grimly, a dark expression colouring his face.

“What did you do to him?” she whispered in horror. She tried to see if the man was bleeding or injured, but Aiden held her back by her arm. He didn’t have to apply much strength; a slight squeeze around her arm and a nudge back was enough to make her fall still.

“Nothing. I just picked him off the street, a random passer-by, totally in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He kept his eyes on the figure, reached behind his back and pulled a gun from under his belt. Holding it loosely by the grip he turned to face her and held the gun out to her in the same movement. He looked Keira directly in the eyes and gave his order.

“Kill him.”

Keira felt as if the ground had disappeared from under her; she gawked at him in disbelief and he prodded the gun at her. Her mouth fell slightly open, her lips trembling as she realised he was serious. Her eyes flicked back and forth, between the gun, the figure on the ground, and up to Aiden’s merciless eyes that silently demanded her to take the gun from him.

“No… please,” she started, “Don’t make me do this, please.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, a weak and high-pitched plead. He didn’t say a word and just stared her down.

With trembling hands she took the gun by the barrel. When he didn’t let go yet and gave it a small tug, she raised her eyes to him. With his other hand he pulled another gun from his waist and cocked it as he pointed it at her face. The sound made her wince and looking directly into the muzzle made her breath catch in her throat. Her now tear-stained eyes looked up again.

“Aim at me, raise it just an inch in my direction, and I’ll shoot.”

Keira nodded in a daze. He let the gun go and she felt its full weight fall down. It was heavy and she awkwardly turned it over, holding it in both hands, testing the weight as she held it in the proper way. She felt his eyes on her, ready to shoot the moment she raised it against him. He knew what he was doing, knew exactly where to hurt her. For a long time she hadn’t cared what he did to her, but involving someone else who had nothing to do with this? That hit hard.

“Please, no,” she begged. “I can’t do this.” Her words punctuated by deep sobs that were cut off by a gasp as he pointed his gun directly at her face again. She broke down completely and fell to her knees in front of him, the gun hanging loosely from her hand and she clasped at the fabric of his trousers.

“Don’t make me, please don’t make me,” she kept repeating. “I’ll do anything, please, I’m begging you. You can do anything you want, just please, not this!”

Aiden kicked her hand away and crouched down, placing the muzzle of his gun under her chin and pushed up so her eyes met his.

“Shut up, take the fucking gun and shoot him or I will blow your teeth out through your brain,” he growled in a deep and gravelly voice.

Grabbing a fistful of hair he dragged her back up and pushed her forward. She squealed but didn’t dare to struggle, afraid that flailing too much would point the gun at him. He wouldn’t hesitate to pull that trigger at any sign of defiance.

Keira took a few deep breaths and steadied herself. Aiden’s presence loomed behind her and she was acutely aware of him watching her every single move and the gun he had trained on her. Slowly, she raised the gun in her trembling hands and aimed it at the figure. He was shaking heavily now and she could hear soft whimpers and muffled pleas through his gag. Hearing it made her heart sink. It made her stomach churn in anxiety and distress and she felt like she was going to be sick. Her throat clenched, but she wasn’t sure whether it was a sob or a retch.

Thoughts were battling their way through her head, trying to win her over, to convince her to do the right thing, to protect herself, to shoot him, to obey, to have mercy!

A sudden determination found her. In a brazen rush she turned sharply, aimed the gun at Aiden and she pulled at the trigger.

BANG!

Before she had even fully turned, Aiden’s gun exploded and a bullet tore its way through her upper arm. A piercing scream left her mouth. The gun was torn from her hand and she grasped at the wound. She fell forward, but instead of her knees hitting the ground, Aiden’s kick to her face sent her sprawling back. The air in her lungs was forced out as she hit the ground hard. She saw Aiden pick up the gun. His jaw was set in anger, his eyes fixed on the doomed figure in front of them.

“No,” she grunted and tried to force herself up. “No, Aiden, wait, please.” She reached up as he walked past her, but he brought his own gun down and smacked it across her face, sending her down without even slowing his pace.

Keira felt her nose break and the blood stream down her lips and chin. She paid it no mind and tried to keep crawling forward. Aiden aimed his gun at the man’s head without any hesitation, his finger moving to the trigger. He halted just for a second to look back at her and his furious eyes locked onto her wide, tear-filled ones.

“No, don’t. Please! AIDEN!”

Her voice broke hard, but her begging was cut short by another gunshot and she could only watch as the bullet went straight through the man’s head.

She fell down on her stomach and squeezed her eyes shut, sobs wracking her body.

She heard shuffling sounds and Aiden’s footsteps slowly making their way back to her. She opened her eyes ever so slightly, but quickly squeezed them shut in alarm. Aiden had dragged the body close in front of her and she’d looked directly into the lifeless blue eyes of the dead man.

“No. No, nonono,” she sobbed.

Aiden slammed his shoe down half over her neck and face, pinning her down on her cheek and forcing her to keep the body in her sight.

“Look at him.”

His shoe prevented her from shaking her head but she whimpered and struggled.

“Open your eyes and see what happens when you disobey me. Open them!” He shouted when she kept shutting her eyes and he pushed his shoe harder down on her neck.

She winced as he raised his voice. Slowly she obeyed and looked into the dead staring blue eyes.

“Remember this and know that it is your fault that he’s dead.”

“No,” she whimpered.

“Yes. Had you just obeyed this would never have happened.”

A stream of blood slowly made its way towards her and mingled with the pool of blood that had started forming below her from her shot wound and broken nose. She flinched a little and watched as the clear pool of her own blood became clotted with the man’s blood flowing in it and she didn’t want to see what was floating in it.

The pressure on her neck was lifted and Aiden retreated.

“I’ll leave the two of you for a bit.”


	2. Get up

After he left her alone with the man, Keira stayed down until she’d heard the door close. She jumped up at the sound and quickly scurried away from the body, making herself as small as possible in one of the far corners of the room.

She had killed him. It was her fault. Her fault. If only she’d just…

She peeked another glance at the man. His eyes were still staring blindly into space. Her fault. He’d never see anything again. _Her fault!_

Guilt wracked through her and soon she couldn’t control her sobbing. Her head fell down into her arms as she tried to at least slightly muffle the desperate scream that had been building up inside her ever since she laid eyes on the man. She cried and wailed until exhaustion caught up with her and with her head still buried in her arms she drifted off into sleep.

-

At the sound of the creaking door Keira immediately woke. She looked up and saw Aiden enter, but she saw no sign of the body. Had she been so fast asleep that she hadn’t heard him before? The pool of blood was still there, serving as a grim reminder.

“What did you do to … him?” She choked and couldn’t get herself to say ‘the body’.

“I buried him in the forest out back.” Aiden crouched down in front of her. “But I think you have more pressing concerns.” His hand brushed her cheek and he brushed a strand of her hair gently out of her eyes.

Her heart dropped. _Punishment_. _Oh man, this must be a triple combo._ She’d tried to escape again, resulting in this guy getting dragged in here, then she refused to shoot him and, bonus, tried to shoot Aiden instead. She was in _so_ much trouble.

“I’m sorry,” she stammered.

“Sorry for what?” The tone of his voice contrasted sharply with the gentle way he kept playing with her hair.

She struggled to find the right words, trying to pacify him at least a little. “I..I-I’m sorry for trying to shoot you.”

“Hm hm, what else?” He lowered his hand, letting it run over her injured arm, softly stroking her and inspecting the bullet wound.

“I’m sorry for disobeying you.” She tried to ignore his gentle strokes and the small waves of pain that ran through her arm as he rubbed his fingers near the skin close to her wounds.

“And?” He squeezed her arm softly.

“And.. I’m sorry for not shooting him.” Of that she wasn’t sorry in the slightest. She was sorry he was dead, that he’d been dragged into this.

Aiden gave a single nod, seemingly satisfied with her answers. “That’s three things that need correcting.” He stood. “I’d say that equals three days of punishment, wouldn’t you agree?”

She made a small noise of disbelief and glanced up.

“What, you don’t think you deserve that? You think you don’t need to be punished for murdering a man?”

“I didn’t ki–“

“What was that?”

“Nothing, sir,” she mumbled and averted her eyes, adding the form of respect, she didn’t want to make him any more angry.

“No, no, take that back. What really happened?” Aiden knelt down again and cupped her face with his open palm, looking her dead in the eyes.

She swallowed hard and cowered under his piercing glare. “I… I killed him.”

“That’s right. Killed an innocent man. If it weren’t for your actions he’d still be alive.” He said all this as if he had nothing to do with it.

She nodded, not daring to press further. Besides that, deep down she knew he was right. She could deny all she want, she could argue that he was the one who pulled the trigger, but in the end, she knew it was her fault.

Pain flared in her arm again as Aiden’s harsh fingers closed around it and pulled her up.

“Then take your punishment and pay for his death.”

A fist drove hard into Keira’s stomach. As she fell down and doubled over, his fist made its way up again and caught her hard in her face. She stumbled back, but before she even had time to check her broken nose she had to dodge another punch. Trying to move faster than she actually could in her position, she twisted her ankle and fell back. Aiden walked closer and loomed over her.

“Get up. You’re fine, you’re not that weak, are you? Get up.” He goaded her on, though not in his usual smiling and cruel provoking manner. He was genuinely angry this time, impatient at her and waiting for her to accept her punishment.

Slowly she did as he said, pushing back onto her elbows, ignoring the burning pain in her arm, and forcing herself up again.

Not even bothering to wait until she had fully straightened up again, he punched her hard in the face and watched indifferently as she went down again with a grunt. He walked up and kicked her hard in the ribs to turn her over on her back. She rolled against his leg and looked up as he stood over her, one foot on each side of her waist. She startled a little; his usual playful manner had disappeared. Where he would usually smile down on her, enjoying the pain he was causing and the control he had, his face was now a blank. Lying on her back, she tried to sit up a bit to try and crawl away, but he placed his foot on her chest and slowly lowered his body weight on it until she was flat on her back again.

Stepping away, he now moved his foot to her injured arm.

“No, wait, Aiden,” Keira started pleading.

His eyes, which were focused on aiming his shoe onto her bullet wound, suddenly snapped to hers in response. They were completely devoid of any emotion; indifferent, cruel, and uncaring. It terrified her. A chill went down her spine. In a slow blink, his pupils moved back to her arm. She tried to scamper back, but before she could even inch up a little, his shoe slammed down onto the wound and she could only scream.

Aiden turned his back on her as he got off her and slowly walked away.

“Get up,” he simply said again.

Grunting and whimpering Keira sat up. Her heart was pounding and she was shaking all over. Trying to avoid using her injured arm she pushed herself onto her knees and bit by bit using all her strength and with the greatest effort she managed to stand up again. She was panting hard and slumped over a little, clutching her bruised ribs.

Aiden faced her and looked her over. “You fucking weakling,” he spat and pushed her back.

“That’s all you can take?!” He advanced on her and pushed again. She stumbled back, tried to create some distance between them, but he kept going for her and kept pushing. She fell back and was caught by the wall behind her. Quickly she tried move away but Aiden was faster.

He slammed her into the wall and inched closer. She tried to put up her arms, but he grabbed both wrists and held them down to the wall next to her body, pushing her closer to the wall with his chest. Unable to slink back, she turned her head and whimpered as she felt his stubble prickle over her cheek.

“Murderer,” he whispered in her ear.

Keira tensed up. “P-please,” she breathed. It wasn’t a plea to stop the beating, to stop the pain. At this point she just couldn’t take his taunts, his slow conditioning to make her believe his words. She knew what he was doing, she’d known it from the start. His gaslighting, his manipulating words that would force her to believe, force her to admit that she bore full responsibility, his poison that would snuff out any ray of light that reminded her she wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger because she might as well have. Her constant pushing and disobedience killed him. She already knew it was her fault; she didn’t need him adding on to it, she couldn’t take the constant reminder, didn’t want to hear or say she was the killer.

“A weakling and a murderer,” he continued, feeling her squirm against him. Letting go of her wrist, her injured arm, he pushed his forearm against her throat.

“Don’t you think you deserve this? Doesn’t it make you feel better? To pay for his death in pain?” He pushed harder on her throat, feeling her chin press into his arm as she nodded.

The hand on her wrist reached down, possessively entwining his fingers into hers, still holding it firm against the wall.

Leaning on his arm, still cutting off her air, he let his head rest against the wall behind her. Keira shuddered at the mock intimacy between them.

“You’re not that different from me.”

 _I am!_ She screamed in her head. _You made me do this! You made me escape. You kill for fun. You’re cruel! I am_ nothing _like you! Nothing_! But the hysteric screaming only made its way out of her mouth as a soft whimper.

When he stepped away from her she slumped to the floor in a broken heap. Her ribs protested against the uncomfortable position but she couldn't bother to try and shift up. Until she heard his dreaded voice again.

"Get up."


	3. Victims

It had taken Keira various other escape attempts before she finally managed to get away. She was severely punished every time she was caught but she didn’t care what he did to her. She took it, she endured, she never begged or pleaded anymore. Aiden knew the man’s death had broken her beyond repair and while he missed her begging he still enjoyed wrecking her voice and making her scream.

After she managed to get out of the house and get over the fence keeping her in, she’d trekked through the woods, injured and bleeding, and finally made it to a small house. The elderly couple living there had helped her and waited with her when they called the police, even though she kept stammering that she should keep going, she should leave, it would be too dangerous, they shouldn’t get involved. _Keep going before he makes me kill them!_

When she was safe and the police questioned her in the hospital, she made no mention of the unknown man. Not yet. She couldn’t yet. Instead, she answered questions about Aiden, where he might be, what he had done to her and to her alone.

After recuperating in the hospital for a week, she went back home where her girlfriend Shannon took over her care.

In time, her wounds healed. The scars remained. So did the nightmares. But it was enough, and the nightmares only fuelled her to do the right thing. She was ready.

Keira started her search online. She didn’t want to call for help from the police yet. It would lead to difficult questions and she didn’t trust herself not to confess that she was responsible. Deciding on the time-frame was hard. She knew she was taken by Aiden in February, she got out in June. Her best bet was that it had happened somewhere in either April or early May. She found a site that kept track of all missing persons. Scrolling through all the faces, she focused on the eyes in the pictures, but she didn’t find the man.

_What if he was never reported missing?_ She thought in horror. _No, he must have been…_

She limited the search, tried again, looking at the full pictures this time and adjusting the time frame until she finally found him. The man haunting her dreams.

-

One night she was, as usual, watching the news with Shannon. Keira never missed it, watched it several times a day, in fact. Shannon assumed she was hoping to find out news about Aiden’s arrest and while that was a nice bonus, Keira mainly watched for another reason.

The news continued. _“Police have found the remains of Jerry Marshall. He had been missing since April and…”_

Keira, curled up against Shannon, suddenly sat up. She moved to the edge of the sofa, listening intently.

“Babe?”

“Shh!” Keira leaned over on the edge of her seat. She gasped when a picture of the man was shown. Her mouth fell open as she looked into the familiar blue eyes.

“That’s him,” she whispered. “Oh my…” Her face wrinkled and she suppressed a sob, clasping a hand over her mouth. A cold and dull feeling weighed down on her chest and she felt her heart pounding. For just a second her mind flashed to the blood on the ground and she flinched hard as she felt a soft pressure below her neck.

“Don’t!” She yelped and Shannon, startled, pulled her hand away from between her shoulders where she soothingly tried to calm Keira.

“Sorry,” Keira whispered, grabbing Shannon’s hand into hers, probably squeezing way too hard, but Shannon let her.

The reporters showed the forest behind Aiden’s house. Part of it was cordoned off.

“ _We received an anonymous tip that Mr. Marshall was no longer alive and that he was supposed to be buried in this forest. We’ve searched behind the house…”_ A shot of the house was shown next to the police officer telling the story.

“Keira, that’s…”

She felt Shannon leaning against her as they both watched. Keira flinched when the screen switched pictures and now showed a picture of Aiden.

“… _in June, when police found a young woman who was being kept in this same house by Aiden Wilson, who is still at large. Police will investigate if the two cases…”_

Tears rolled down Keira’s face.

“Did you know that man?” Shannon asked, her eyes still on the tv.

“I… I killed him,” Keira whispered. She felt Shannon shift and felt her hands glide down her arm.

“You did not…”

“Aiden pulled the trigger, but I killed him. It was my fault that he—oh my god, look,” Keira started sobbing. “It’s his family.”

A woman holding two children, not older than about six, was now talking about how relieved she was that they could put it to rest, that she was devastated but still wanted to thank the anonymous source.

“No… no, god damn it, no, don’t thank me.” Keira rocked back and forward. “It’s my fault he’s dead. It’s my fault.” She moaned softly as she looked at the children, a boy and a girl, who had the same blue eyes as their father.

The news carried on, switched to a lighter story about the new-born panda everyone had been waiting for, but Keira didn’t hear any of it. She doubled over, her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands, crying her eyes out.

Shannon pulled her back and let her curl up against her like before. She held Keira’s head against her shoulder, softly petting her hand in her hair. “Shh, shh, it’s okay, let it out. Let it all out.”

Everything Keira had kept bottled up over these few weeks, all the guilt, all the shame came pouring out. She wailed into Shannon’s shoulder, her fingers painfully clutching into the soft fabric of cushion behind her on the sofa. Every night the man had looked at her in reproach, every night his blue eyes kept staring at her. Maybe tonight, she’d be able to sleep without having him blame her too. Maybe the guilt would feel less heavy now that she made sure he was back with his family…in a way.

Once she started to calm down and had no more tears left to cry, she snuggled up against Shannon.

“I killed him,” she whispered again.

“Tell me,” Shannon whispered back.

And she did. And she couldn’t stop. She let everything go. Scratched out every little detail, every hurt, every feeling until she felt clean, until she felt she pulled out all the dark budding seeds that had been planted inside her brain. The feeling now was temporary, she knew that. The roots still remained. The guilt would return. But she also knew that from now on, she could let it out. Shannon would help. Shannon listened. She didn’t interrupt, though sometimes Keira could feel her tense up or felt her fingers around her hand tightening, but she remained quiet.

-

The next day, the police visited for further questioning. Keira admitted that it had been her who had called in the anonymous tip. She recalled the incident again, telling how Aiden tried to force her to shoot him, but after she refused, he did the job himself and buried the man out back. Telling Shannon about it in more detail the day before helped and she was able to tell everything. She apologized for not telling them sooner, explained how she couldn’t yet, wasn’t ready at first. She hated the cops for being so understanding; she didn’t deserve it.

“We offered a cash reward to the person who would come forward with a tip that would lead to a positive result in us solving his disappearance,” the police officer explained.

“I don’t want it,” Keira immediately said. “Give it to his family.”

“We can’t do that, ma’am. It has to be claimed by you. If you want, you can then offer it to the family.”

She sniffled, the sound turning into an ever so slight scoff. “They won’t want it from me.”

Shannon took her hand.

“Think about it,” the police stood to leave. “There’s no immediate time limit, you don’t need to answer now.”

Keira didn’t look up to see them leave, just stared at her balled fists.

"I can't accept that," she whispered as Shannon returned and sat next to her.

"You don't have to. Just focus on you now. All this must've been hard."

Keira nodded. It had been hard, reliving everything. But it also opened new doors. She could pick them off one by one. And she didn't have to go through them alone anymore.


End file.
